June 24, 2015

ELKHART, Indiana — HARMAN’s Crown Audio today announced it has adopted the Common Amplifier Format (CAF) for DriveCore Install (DCi) Series Amplifiers. Developed by SynAudCon, the CAF is a report for presenting specifications and measured performance metrics of audio power amplifiers. Effective July 2015, Crown DCi Series amplifier specifications will be available in the CAF.

CAF was designed to provide amplifier performance metrics in a concise and well-defined format and in a manner that facilitates direct comparisons between various manufacturers and models.

At the heart of the DCi Series is HARMAN’s proprietary DriveCore amplifier IC chip. The DriveCore chip combines the amplifier driver stage into the power output stage along with additional audio signal functions – yet is about the size of a postage stamp. DriveCore and the DCi Series’ leading-edge amplifier topologies dramatically reduce size and power consumption requirements and yield much more energy-efficient operation that conforms to HARMAN International’s GreenEdge™ environmental initiative.

“We believe adopting the CAF will help alleviate some of the confusion our customers face in making an informed decision about what amplifier is most appropriate for their specific application and environment. Moving to a more universal standard of measurements is an important step for the professional amplifier industry and we are happy to lead by example,” stated Marc Kellom, Senior Director of Engineering and Marketing, Crown Audio.

“I am pleased to hear that Crown is joining a growing list of audio manufacturers in adopting the common amplifier format – CAF. With the CAF, audio practitioners finally have a meaningful way to deploy and compare audio power amplifiers. Crown’s support of the CAF demonstrates their ongoing commitment to providing meaningful specifications to their customers,” stated Pat Brown, President, SynAudoCon.

For more information on the Common Amplifier Format please visit: www.cafgroup.org.

June 23, 2015

AUSTIN, Texas – For the second year in a row, Firehouse Productions provided sound reinforcement for the iHeartRadio Country Festival, held at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. And just like last year, Firehouse used its HARMAN’s JBL VTX line array system for the event. This year’s system, however, featured Firehouse’s V25 loudspeakers, now upgraded to the new V25-II spec using JBL’s VTX-V25-WG-UK upgrade kit. With the upgrade, Firehouse was able to take advantage of this new and improved standard for one of the largest country music festivals of the year.

The iHeartRadio Country Festival brought together the biggest names in country music on one stage in a venue that seats more than 16,700 people. Hosted by country music personality Bobby Bones, the lineup this year featured Tim McGraw, Brantley Gilbert, Rascal Flatts and Brad Paisley. While Firehouse Productions is accustomed to the standard basketball arena setup, it did not take this event lightly, as the team aimed for maximum clarity and intelligibility in all directions.

To this end, Firehouse provided two hangs of 18 VTX V25-II loudspeakers for the main PA, two hangs of 14 VTX V25-II loudspeakers for outfill, three hangs of nine VERTEC® VT4889 loudspeakers for rear fills, eight VT4886 loudspeakers for front fills and 18 VTX G28 ground-stacked subwoofers. The entire system was powered by Crown I-Tech 12000HD amplifiers.

“We have done many arena and stadium events like this one, so we were prepared for every possible scenario during the event,” said Mark Dittmar, Lead Design & Integration Engineer of Firehouse Productions. “Normally it would take some effort and calibration to reach the farthest seats in the arena, but the coverage and SPL of the new VTX V25-II boxes really made it easy. Our team is definitely loving the new gear.”

The VTX V25-II features a new 4th generation waveguide that improves long-throw performance and control. It achieves this through optimally combining a variety of design improvements, resulting in 10 dB higher sensitivity above 10 kHz.

“The event was a tremendous success, as we were able to project the sound to every corner of the stadium,” said Dittmar. “Since we also provided the sound for this show last year, we were able to keep things running in a smooth fashion while deploying an updated system. This is largely thanks to the straightforward integration of the VTX V25-II with updated loudspeaker presets for our Crown I-Tech 12000HD amplifiers.”

June 232015

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June 23, 2015

PARIS, France – As part of a major HARMAN Professional package, over 100 JBL VTX V25-II line array elements were deployed across five stages at the recent 4-day Weather Festival of electronic music in Paris. Celebrating its third year, the promoters chose a 100,000-square-meter site in the Bois de Vincennes in order to pursue its mission of being a sustainable event. With environmental concerns as its main priority, this was considered a landmark event.

The festival brought together 70 artists over the four days and the crowds were treated to non-stop energy and high quality sound delivered by a JBL VTX system throughout. The sound design was in the capable hands of Décisions Acoustiques, who also exercised environmental control across the five stages, maintaining coherence and consistency throughout. The system was sold through French distributor SCV.

Under the expertise of Guillaume Reilbell, who calibrated the sound on the two large stages, and Wilfried Mautret, who was responsible for the other three, a total of 108 JBL VTX V25-II line array elements were deployed, along with 84 flown VTX S28 subwoofers.

A further 14 JBL VRX932LA Constant Curvature loudspeakers were used as stage fills—and the entire system was powered by a combination of 14 Crown VRack systems housing I-Tech 12000HD amplifiers, and 24 VRack systems housing I-Tech 4x3500HD amps.

The 80 instrumental source inputs required for the opening electro performance, along with the classical orchestra, were managed and mixed in a Soundcraft Vi6 digital console. Also within the HARMAN stable, a large number of AKG’s classic C414 condenser microphones were used by artists, who included Jeff Mills, Derrick May, Nina Kraviz, Ricardo Villalobos, Lil Louis, Robert Hood, Ben Klock, Marcel Dettmann, DVS1 and many more.

Summarizing the event, Florian Pancrazi, partner in Décisions Acoustiques, outlined the challenges. “With five stages assembled on the same site we had to design sound reinforcement systems that would not bleed or interfere with the other zones, while maintaining effective low frequency sound that is essential to electro music programming,” he said. “We decided to use the same setup right across the board to maintain consistency for an audience that was travelling between the different stages.”

“Once again we chose the VTX V25-II systems, which had more than satisfied requirements at the previous edition, allowing us to achieve perfect optimization in each case, through specific presets which were easily managed in JBL HiQnet Performance Manager™ software,” Pancrazi continued. “On the two large stages we hung the subwoofers in cardioid formation behind the V25-IIs. This resulted in a consistent performance, containing the sound and preventing spillage onto adjacent stages while at the same time limiting sound propagation to neighboring homes to the maximum.”

June 032015

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June 03, 2015

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Rock in Rio USA made its debut in mid-May, drawing 172,000 fans from around the world over two weekends and featuring performances by artists including Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, No Doubt, Metallica, Jessie J, Linkin Park and more. While the Las Vegas Strip location was a first for Rock in Rio, the elaborate stage productions and memorable performances were not, as Rock in Rio USA delivered on expectations set by previous Rock in Rio festivals held in Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon and Madrid. As for all Rock in Rio festivals, Gabisom Audio Equipment of Brazil provided the sound reinforcement system for Rock in Rio USA, once again deploying HARMAN’s JBL VTX line arrays powered with Crown I-Tech HD amplifiers on the festival’s main stage.

Gabisom provided a massive main PA system for the main stage, arranged in the typical Rock in Rio format, which Gabisom refers to as a “side-by-side” configuration—four hangs, each containing three columns of loudspeakers. The columns closest to the stage (which Gabisom calls the “Band” columns) received a full band mix, minus vocals or any other element of the mixing engineer’s choice. The middle columns were comprised of flown subwoofers, whose feed was derived from the Band mix, creating a 4-way flown system. The outermost columns, known as the “Vocal” columns, received a vocal mix, along with any other elements that the mixing engineer chose.

“In this way, we guaranteed that each independent system [Band or Vocal] would not be fighting one another for headroom, allowing full, clean power with no limiting, clipping or acoustical distortion,” said Peter Racy, Chief Engineer or Gabisom Audio Equipment. “This newly found headroom was present right at the mixing console’s summing amps and output busses, in the system processors and power amps, as well as the speaker components. The result was clean, powerful sound.”

The PA system featured a total of 128 VTX V25 line array elements, 46 VTX S28 flown subwoofers and 24 VTX G28 ground-stacked subwoofers. A total of 124 Crown I-Tech 12000HD amplifiers powered the system, which was networked via JBL HiQnet Performance Manager™.

As is typical for outdoor concerts in Las Vegas, the climate posed a challenge from a technical perspective. “With relative humidity as low as 8 percent and gusty winds lifting dust into the air, we tuned various parameters within Performance Manager, including band-pass gain, subtractive EQ on the low-mids and additive EQ on the highs,” Racy said. “This is quite unusual for the VTX system, on which we normally make a few changes, if any.”

However, once Gabisom dialed in the atmospheric compensation, Racy said the system performed exceptionally. “Guest mixing engineers were all very happy with their results, and all had favorable comments on the system,” he added. “The Performance Manager software was a huge asset for both tuning and monitoring the entire system, giving us the confidence that the system was healthy at all times.”

“The VTX V25 system has been Gabisom’s system of choice for large outdoor festivals and high-power rock and electronic dance music concerts, due to its high power capability and superb audio quality,” Racy concluded. “It does the job exceedingly well in an effortless manner.”

June 022015

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June 02, 2015

SOUTH BEND, Indiana — Highlighting the kickoff to a yearlong celebration for the city of South Bend, Indiana’s 150th birthday (SB150), HARMAN Professional and Michigan-based sound contractor Stewart Independent provided live sound reinforcement for a Memorial Day Weekend concert featuring Ben Folds and the South Bend Symphony. SB150 is a community-wide celebration of the city’s rich history and will highlight the area’s best in arts, culture and heritage in a variety of events and programs.

The concert, which took place on Saturday, May 23rd, was held in the parking lot of the South Bend Century Convention and Events Center with over 5,000 in attendance for the sold-out show. In addition to the one-time collaboration between Ben Folds and the South Bend Symphony, other regional music acts also performed at the event.

The main stage system featured 10 JBL VTX V20 full-range line array elements and six VTX S25 subwoofer elements suspended per side for the PA. An additional 12 G28 subwoofers were ground-stacked in front of the stage in four groups of three. VTX F12 and F15 loudspeakers were used as front fills and out fills, respectively.

Four Crown VRACK 4x3500HDs powered the V20 line arrays and S25 subwoofers, while all the G28 and F Series loudspeakers were driven by two Crown VRack 12000HDs. JBL HiQnet Performance Manager™ software handled system setup, calibration and control.

A Soundcraft Vi3000 digital live sound console handled the front of house mix and Soundcraft Vi1 was deployed for monitors. Additional HARMAN gear included two dbx DriveRack 4800s and AKG D5 vocal microphones.

“I was fortunate enough to have the complete support of HARMAN for the weekend. Raul Gonzalez from HARMAN was a real pro and we were pleased with how well the Crown VRacks and JBL VTX boxes went together, flew and ultimately handled the show. Clarity was good and the symphony sound stage was excellent. I think we all agreed that the new gear is among the best HARMAN had put forth to date and being big fans of compact, high-output line arrays this rig fits the bill. My engineers are also big fans of the Soundcraft Consoles so having a Vi3000 at FOH was a nice treat as well," stated Shannon Stewart, owner Stewart Independent.

“HARMAN audio and lighting equipment can be found on the biggest stages in stadiums and arenas around the world and SB150 was a great opportunity to put our gear on display in the backyard of our Elkhart facility. We are extremely proud of South Bend and are honored to be a part of celebrating its history and looking forward to the future,” stated Scott Robbins, Executive Vice President of Sales, HARMAN Professional.

“The Main-Stage Concert was a tremendous success, despite the struggles that come with producing a first time volunteer-based show for an entire city. My staff including Dan DeVisser, Mati Johnson and Austin Lanning and I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome however. This was in no small part due to the dedication of the Executive Director of Downtown South Bend, Inc., Aaron Perri, a very supportive Mayor and Chamber of Commerce and the countless volunteers and local businesses that worked to make this event possible. Also the local production companies did great work throughout the grounds, stretching down both sides of the river in South Bend,” added Stewart.

SB 150 will continue throughout the year with additional events and programs to celebrate the city and provide a positive legacy for South Bend residents to build on the city’s proud history. Residents and organizations are encouraged to help celebrate the city’s milestone by hosting their own events throughout the year.

For more information on the South Bend 150 Celebration please visit: www.sb150.com.

June 012015

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June 01, 2015

PRETORIA, South Africa – Providing sound reinforcement for some of the most popular artists in today’s South African music industry, MGG Productions recently deployed HARMAN’s JBL VTX line arrays, Crown I-Tech HD amplifiers and Soundcraft Vi Series consoles at the Afrikaans is Groot Music Show in Pretoria. Organized by Coleske Artists, the Johannesburg leg of the annual music concert saw nine sold-out shows at the Moreletapark Auditorium in Pretoria, which seats more than 7,000 people.

MGG Productions was the sole technical supplier for audio and lighting, with Project Manager Denzil Smith and his expert team putting in many hours of hard work toward this popular event. Regional HARMAN distributor Wild & Marr was on-hand to provide additional technical support and EASE plots to ensure an even distribution of sound for the audience.

The audio system featured a total of 32 JBL VTX V20 line array elements (featuring 12 per side for the main PA plus a center hang of eight), 10 VERTEC® VT4886 subcompact line array elements for front fill and a combination of VTX G28 and VTX S25 subwoofers in cardioid formation. JBL VTX F15, F12 and SRX712 loudspeakers were used for stage monitoring. Artists were simply blown away at the audio quality and SPL available for coverage on stage.

All loudspeakers were powered by Crown VRacks, which included I-Tech 12000HD and I-Tech 4x3500HD amplifiers, while system management and control were handled with JBL HiQnet Performance Manager™ software.

The FOH control was equally impressive with Soundcraft Vi6 and Vi3000 consoles connected with RealTime Rack. The Vi6 controlled all band inputs and additional multitracks for playout from Pro Tools. This was connected via an additional MADI card. The Vi6 was also used to trigger scenes to the Vi3000 via MIDI (and Ethernet which triggered the RealTime Rack). The Vi3000 was used to handle vocals and sub scenes.